Patriots Notebook: Lewis looks sharp in season debut

Tuesday

Nov 22, 2016 at 7:12 PMNov 22, 2016 at 7:13 PM

Dion Lewis looked surprisingly agile rather than rusty as he made his 2016 debut in a win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, some 54 weeks after shredding the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in a game against the Washington Redskins.

By Rich Garven@RichGarvenTG

Dion Lewis looked surprisingly agile rather than rusty as he made his 2016 debut in a win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, some 54 weeks after shredding the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in a game against the Washington Redskins.

The running back started and played 22 of 76 offensive snaps (28.9 percent) as he shared the workload with LeGarrette Blount (34 snaps) and James White (24).

Lewis was confident while dipping and dodging his way past defenders, rushing for 23 yards on five carries, catching three of five targeted passes for 26 yards and accounting for three first downs.

“I thought that Dion made the most of his opportunities, made some good runs with the ball in space and caught the ball out of the backfield,” offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said Tuesday in a conference call. “He got an opportunity in his first game back to handle the ball, to do some things in there, run some routes, be in the backfield in protection.

“So it was good to have him get through that first game … and put him back into the mix and in the flow of our offense. We’ll try to build off of that, but I have confidence in all three of those guys and look forward to continue to use all three of them the best we can each week.”

Coach's decision

Defensive end Jabaal Sheard went from being a starter who played some serious snaps in the first eight games to a little-used sub to a healthy scratch in the span of three weeks due to his apparent penchant for freelancing rather than doing his job.

So what’s it going to take for one of the Patriots’ premier pass rushers to get back on the field? Defensive coordinator Matt Patricia referred to his boss on that one Tuesday during a conference call.

“I think Coach [Bill] Belichick has obviously said it over and over and I think he’s said it best,” Patricia said. “For us, we’re just trying to put whoever is going to go out there and help us, give us the best opportunity to win. The roster and how it works, I think Coach answered that best.

“Sometimes you have guys out and sometimes you don’t. Whatever the case may be, there are other factors that are involved in it. We’re just going to go out there and do the best we can to get everybody going. I don’t think there’s anything else to really say about that.”

In other words, if Patricia and Belichick can’t get Sheard to see things their way the sixth-year pro will continue to spend Sundays watching games rather than playing in them.